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Another PDT cocktail with Benedictine, Johnny Iuzzini's L.E.S. Globetrotter (a twist on the Cock ‘n’ Bull Special in Ted Saucier's Bottom’s Up): rye, cognac, Benedictine, creole shrubb. Served this up, then realized it was quite strong and actually supposed to be on ice, so I quickly transferred them after I took the picture. Smooth with beautiful orange flavors.

I bought a few Moro blood oranges last week and was looking for a new orange-based cocktail to showcase them. I remembered that I had always wanted to try the Monkey Gland, one of these memorable cocktail names, although I had no idea what it was like. I thought that using blood oranges was appropriate! Anyway, it's gin, orange juice, pomegranate molasses, and a rinse of absinthe/pastis.

Nice color. Regarding the taste, it's quite different. Not structured as a typical cocktail. It highlighted the botanicals in the gin and some from the pastis (but not the licorice notes surprisingly). The orange seemed to blend in the background despite the large amount. I am not sure if I liked it but it was intriguing and fresh. The problem was that it tasted a little flat without much dimension.

I was going through some old eG posts and I saw that I was not the only one scratching my head with that cocktail (see discussion on the Monkey Gland here). It might be worth trying again with a different gin, even though Beefeater is specified in the PDT recipe.

”In Demerara some of the rum producers have a unique custom of placing chunks of raw meat in the casks to assist in aging, to absorb certain impurities, and to add a certain distinctive character.” -Peter Valaer, "Foreign and Domestic Rum," 1937

I know it's not traditional, but maybe a squeeze of lemon or lime would add structure and contrast? Along with the bright notes from a fat orange twist like Toby mentions in the thread you linked. It seems a shame to give up on a drink with a memorable name that looks like that.

”In Demerara some of the rum producers have a unique custom of placing chunks of raw meat in the casks to assist in aging, to absorb certain impurities, and to add a certain distinctive character.” -Peter Valaer, "Foreign and Domestic Rum," 1937

I know it's not traditional, but maybe a squeeze of lemon or lime would add structure and contrast? Along with the bright notes from a fat orange twist like Toby mentions in the thread you linked. It seems a shame to give up on a drink with a memorable name that looks like that.

I haven't given up but there are so many cocktails and so little time :-) These all sound like good ideas.

When my husband is not home, I always gravitate towards recipes containing amari for some reason... So last night it was the Montgomery Smith from PDT: cognac, Bénédictine, Fernet-Branca, lemon twist. Between the calming presence of cognac and Bénédictine, and the modest amount of Fernet (1/4 oz), this would make an excellent Introduction to Fernet for Fernet novices! The Fernet blends with the Benedictine and does not shine until the end, adding a kick to the drink. Very cool.

We've been enjoying this book. The biggest problem is what cocktail to try. Our solution has been, since we are crossword puzzle addicts, the last letter we enterin the puzzle is the cocktail for the evening (my wife insists weekends only). Montgomery Smith was a few weeks ago and we also enjoyed it.

We've been enjoying this book. The biggest problem is what cocktail to try. Our solution has been, since we are crossword puzzle addicts, the last letter we enterin the puzzle is the cocktail for the evening (my wife insists weekends only). Montgomery Smith was a few weeks ago and we also enjoyed it.

I like your system, it sounds like fun. You should join along and post your cocktail notes as you go!

Last night's cocktail for my husband was a Honeymoon Cocktail which is based on a recipe by Hugo Ensslin in Recipes for Mixed Drinks. In PDT they call for Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy which I used to have a bottle of, but decided in the end that I much preferred calvados. So I used calvados Pays d'Auge fine (aged for a minimum of 2 years) together with benedictine, curaçao, and lemon juice. Note that the version of the Honeymoon Cocktail in Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails calls for calvados.

It felt quite strong with a lot of aromas and a touch of acidity from the lemon juice. A contemplative drink.

I made the Rattlesnake from the PDT book today and struggled to love it - mainly due to the egg white I think. I ended up with a drink that had a pretty thick layer of foam on top of it (almost a soft meringuey feel!) that gave it a wierd taste. It's not the egg per se I think, as it was fresh free range. Is that how it is meant to be?

When my husband is not home, I always gravitate towards recipes containing amari for some reason... So last night it was the Montgomery Smith from PDT: cognac, Bénédictine, Fernet-Branca, lemon twist. Between the calming presence of cognac and Bénédictine, and the modest amount of Fernet (1/4 oz), this would make an excellent Introduction to Fernet for Fernet novices! The Fernet blends with the Benedictine and does not shine until the end, adding a kick to the drink. Very cool.

Bitter and twisted when your husband is away; I'm sure he would be happy to hear this

Bitter and twisted when your husband is away; I'm sure he would be happy to hear this

Oops. My cover is blown!

I made the Rattlesnake from the PDT book today and struggled to love it - mainly due to the egg white I think. I ended up with a drink that had a pretty thick layer of foam on top of it (almost a soft meringuey feel!) that gave it a wierd taste. It's not the egg per se I think, as it was fresh free range. Is that how it is meant to be?

There is supposed to be thick foam on top. If you are getting a soft meringue it means that your shaking technique is good! In my experience, the egg white foam does not have much taste. Its main function is to bring all the flavors together as it softens the rye and the absinthe/pastis a bit. It creates a creamy/foamy texture that I find very pleasant. Below is a typical example (achieved by dry shaking/shaking with ice). Eggs drinks can take some getting used to but after a while they make a lot of sense.

”In Demerara some of the rum producers have a unique custom of placing chunks of raw meat in the casks to assist in aging, to absorb certain impurities, and to add a certain distinctive character.” -Peter Valaer, "Foreign and Domestic Rum," 1937

Trader Vic's Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (1947) with the ratios from PDT. Rum, lime juice, Cointreau, falernum. I was out of Barbados rum so I used Barbancourt 8.

It's a very good cocktail that would be fun to try with various rums. It's interesting that this lime + falernum + Cointreau combo was also used by Donn Beach in the Test Pilot (1941), which adds Angostura bitters and pastis to get a completely different feel to the cocktail, from crisp and clean for the RBYC to complex and exotic for the Test Pilot. Very illustrative of their respective styles.

I had some extra tamarind puree kicking around from some Southeast Asian cooking I'd been doing recently, so I thought I would give the T&T a try.

Obviously the trick here is getting the tamarind puree to the same consistency/tartness as the original. I was using the plastic-wrapped bricks of tamarind, which I soaked with an equal amount of water and then pressed through a sieve. I didn't actually have 1.5 oz of it left, so I thinned it out with some more water. It ended up getting pretty much totally lost. It also didn't help that the mezcal I was using was Monte Alban; I'm trying to use it up, having bought it many years ago. On the one hand, I think people are probably too critical of it: it's not exactly bad, though I have a sneaking suspicion there's some pretty tremendous bottle variation out there. On the other hand, it seems to have a tendency to clobber anything else it's mixed with, which happened here. I'm of half a mind to try substituting it for Islay scotches, it's so smoky. Or maybe I'll just use the rest of it to flambé some crêpes.

I am with Matt on this one. The thing is, there is just too much mezcal in that recipe. See, even with a decent tequila + mezcal combo, the tamarind syrup which was intense and deliciously tart on its own (I think I could drink the stuff neat) disappeared in the drink. The good thing is that I now have this excess tamarind syrup that I can play with.

Coincidentally (great minds, and all that), and at Chris' prompting, I made the T&T again last night with Del Maguey Chichicapa mezcal and Casa Noble tequila, and I still found the tamarind got a bit lost. That said, it was orders of magnitude tastier than my prior attempt.

No leftover tamarind paste for me, though; I used the rest in the Pad Thai I made for dinner last night.

Is anyone following the PDT Project at Umami Mart? There were attempting to make all cocktails in the PDT Cocktail Book and have gorgeous photography. However they are only at the letter "B" and there haven't been new posts in a while, so I think that we are still way ahead of them...

Anyway, here is a new one that I hadn't tried due my lack of enthusiasm for all things St. Germain. But I made an elderflower cordial a few weeks ago and have been revisiting St Germain cocktails since then. In PDT there is El Puente, a cocktail designed by Jim Meehan to bring together tequila and mezcal. With white vermouth and elderflower, I was a little concerned that this would be a very busy cocktail and I even thought twice before using my favorite tequila (as you may see from the photo, I reduced my risk by only making a 1/2 cocktail)...

But I was wrong and it turned out wonderful, like a delicate and floral take on grapefruit. Next time it will be full scale!